


Adrift

by HYPERFocused



Series: Hyperfocused on Judaism [1]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 03:19:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1883190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HYPERFocused/pseuds/HYPERFocused
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wedding bands, family treasures<br/>China dishes, and Krystallnacht.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adrift

**Author's Note:**

> Written around 1996 for Yom Ha' Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). Was posted on LJ 4/18/2004.

Adrift

You're looking at the piles  
of wedding rings and shoes  
candlesticks and teeth,  
tall as the snow-covered hill  
you used to sled down on December days.

Each flake caught, a sharp-edged beauty  
melting on your tongue.  
The soft thud of a well placed snowball  
hitting flesh.

Now, you think of endless marches  
through winter fields.  
Forced to march  
to work  
to die.

The naked eye can't see  
each individual ring  
the story of two lives enmeshed  
ani v'dodi, v'dodi li  
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine  
gold worn thin  
after years together, children raised.  
The mark of the ring  
the only reminder of a life left behind.

Wedding bands, family treasures  
China dishes, and Krystallnacht.

Imagine the wrenching  
of tooth from jaw;  
bone and bodies  
recycled into trash  
or treasure.  
The ashes drifted white  
across the sky.

They say no two snowflakes are alike.


End file.
